World News Thread

[RoseMorninStar]

That is just sick and twisted but I am not surprised. How awful.

[River]

Russian opposition leader Navalny is in critical condition and widely believed to be poisoned on Putin's orders.

So, he’s in Germany now.

Scary stuff.

His family and doctors demanded a transfer for days, saying that he was kept in a small hospital that was not meant to treat his condition. They suspect that this was done to give the toxins time to dissipate so that they can't be identified.

In an article I read, the Russian government appears to be taking the stance that he had a metabolic disorder that he lost control of. That could end up being true, in that some poisons cause liver damage.

Seems like it would have been cleaner to just shoot him.

[elengil]

Seems like it would have been cleaner to just shoot him.

Less 'deniable' though.

[River]

Oh please. People off themselves with gunshot wounds to the back of the head all the time.

[RoseMorninStar]

Perhaps 'clean' was not the objective. It sounds like painful torment was part of the plan. And may work as a deterrent for others.

[Frelga]

Some have taken it as a message to the opposition in Belarus. Or perhaps it's more effective to neutralize an opponent by making him very ill than to turn him into a martyr.

[RoseMorninStar]

Some have taken it as a message to the opposition in Belarus. Or perhaps it's more effective to neutralize an opponent by making him very ill than to turn him into a martyr.

I was thinking along these lines. It was by design.

[Frelga]

Apparently the official line of defense is that the state agents who followed Navalny's every step didn't notice anything suspicious.

[Túrin Turambar]

British PM Boris Johnson is subtly trolled by a school librarian.

[RoseMorninStar]

British PM Boris Johnson is subtly trolled by a school librarian.

That's pretty clever.

[Frelga]

Terry Pratchett's Twitter account, run by his assistant Rob, had a caption contest for the photo. There were some great entries, many referring to Bloody Stupid Johnson.

Johnson was most famous, or rather most notorious. He was renowned for never letting his number-blindness, his lack of any skill whatsoever or his complete failure to grasp the essence of a problem stand in the way of his cheerful progress as the first Counter-Renaissance man.

“Wasn’t he the man who specified quicksand as a building material because he wanted a house finished fast?” he said.
“That’s right, sir. Usually the major flaw was that the designer was Bloody Stupid Johnson.”

[elengil]

“Wasn’t he the man who specified quicksand as a building material because he wanted a house finished fast?” he said.
“That’s right, sir. Usually the major flaw was that the designer was Bloody Stupid Johnson.”

Well not everything he designed had some horribly fatal flaw... what about that thing we keep in the kitchen for peeling potatoes?

You mean the one with a brass plate that says "Improved Manicure Device"?

[Sunsilver]

My mother removed the end of her baby finger with one of those 'improved manicure' devices! They can be wicked sharp!

[Inanna]

Your mother owned an original Johnson!!

(Sorry, sorry - could not resist)

[Sunsilver]

Your mother owned an original Johnson!!

(Sorry, sorry - could not resist)

[Frelga]

Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, there's a drone flying over the city dropping baggies of weed.

Israel decriminalized medical marijuana and is debating legalization.

[River]

And here in Colorado everyone's like, "Why didn't we think of that??"

[RoseMorninStar]

Duuude.

[Dave_LF]

I'm having trouble following the leap from "this product is no longer illegal" to "we should use drones to drop this product on people from the sky." But hopefully Israel doesn't choose to legalize pianos next.

[elengil]

I'm having trouble following the leap from "this product is no longer illegal" to "we should use drones to drop this product on people from the sky." But hopefully Israel doesn't choose to legalize pianos next.

Pianos are illegal in Israel?